BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY Editor: Marla Wallace, wa1gsf@comcast.net August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 1

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BARS Billerica Amateur

Radio Society

April 2020

NEWS FOR AND BY BARS MEMBERS AUGUST 2020

From the President’s Desk from the President of BARS, Andy Wallace, KA1GTT

Everyone, I would like to start my ramblings for August by

pointing out that my opinion of BARS is high when it comes to

observing how we help each other. I know some of you have

pulled together to raise antennas and towers (or take them down),

loan equipment to other hams, offer advice about operating, and

of course I’d have to pinch myself if I didn’t see the usual gaggle

of BARS volunteers at VE sessions, and the ARRL and NearFest

shows.

I’d like to spotlight something very uplifting which happened this

month. Most of you know that the Board planned and executed a

publicity campaign for BARS which involves looking up recent

licensees at the ARRL database and sending out W1HH postcards

to these new folks.

John Fisher, KC1FTJ, of BEAUTIFUL North Chelmsford, has

stepped up to the plate to be our ambassador. John always pens a

personal greeting on the back of the postcard.

Recently he was thrilled to receive an email back from someone

who got a card. Here is the note:

John, I just wanted to say thank you for the

postcard! I’ve been thinking about getting my

ticket for a number of years but finally used the

downtime as a result of COVID to get it done. I

never expected everyone to be as helpful and

welcoming as I’m finding and your postcard is

a prime example. Thank you for taking the

time to send it! I really appreciate it! Look

forward to crossing paths with you one day

soon!

73!

Thanks,

Scott Schulman (KC1NHD)

This is heartwarming. Because we are hoping to gain new

members by sending these cards out, John is only sending them to

towns surrounding Billerica for the most part. So it is not a huge

task each month – ten cards would be a busy one. Note also that

in the text of the card we have been careful not to beg for

someone to “join our club because it’s the best!” We offer helpful

advice and links – find a club, have more fun! If you heard about

BARS through one of these postcards, please let us know. And

many thanks, John!

I’ve also had the HT on more often when I am in the yard. I am

happy to hear some of our folks helping new hams on the

Billerica repeater. I’ve heard patient advice on rigs and antennas

and operating practices. This is great. Keep it up.

I hope you have all enjoyed the ZOOM meetings. I feel more

human being able to see your faces. The ZOOM breakfast has

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 2

also been good. Make your toast and coffee and join us! Kudos to

Bruce, W1LUS, for sending out the invitations and moderating.

As I write this, Marla tells me the August issue is going to be one

of the biggest. Wonderful! A big thank you to all who have

written something for us to enjoy. This is my only contribution

for August but I’ve got some article ideas in my back pocket for

later.

Enjoy the summer – BARS is doing well!

Andy, KA1GTT

President, Billerica Amateur Radio Society

Next BARS Zoom meeting: Wednesday August 5 at 7:00 PM “Chasing Certificates” by Scott Ginsburg, K1OA.

I am pleased to announce that our own BARS Secretary, Scott

Ginsburg, K1OA, will be our speaker for the August meeting.

Scott sent me a sneak preview of his PPT slide deck for Ham

Radio Awards and wow, there are some awards available to us

that I had no knowledge of.

Why go for awards? Well lots of us are already doing the heavy

lifting – MAKING QSOs – so why not have a nice plaque or

certificate to commemorate your hard work?

If you are curious about ARRL DXCC, Worked all States,

Worked All Continents, Worked all Zones, the incredible USA

Counties award (guess how many there are?), and others, you will

want to see this presentation. Even if you are a casual operator or

DXer you will enjoy hearing about these awards. You never

know, someday your totals will qualify you for one.

Andy, KA1GTT

President, Billerica Amateur Radio Society

I will announce the link to join the Zoom meeting before the

meeting, but it will be posted to the BARS email list and should

not be shared outside our Club. Are you on the email list? If not,

please send an email to bars-subscribe@w1hh.org and then

simply reply to the robot response from the server and you will be

subscribed.

Observing our Zoom meeting requires only a web browser and

headphones/speakers. You do not need a webcam or microphone

unless you want to speak or be seen.

Before our meeting date, please go to https://zoom.us/test and see

if it will function for you. If you have problems, we can try to

assist – feel free to ask questions on the BARS email list.

I am looking forward to “seeing” many of you on Wednesday 8/5

at 1900.

Andy, KA1GTT

President, Billerica Amateur Radio Society

A Message From the Editor

from Marla Wallace, WA1GSF

I’m having a ball editing the newsletter for BARS. In all my 50-

odd years of ham radio, a good portion of it as a member of one

club or another, I have never found an activity (except for

designing and constructing gear, which, sadly, my physical

condition now prevents me from doing) that I enjoy as much as

compiling this newsletter every month.

Much of the editing job involves laying out the pages so that they

flow. Usually, this just involves adding blank lines or re-sizing

photos so that article titles don’t get separated from article bodies

by page or column breaks. The rest of the job is mostly a matter

of keeping things consistent. (The color scheme being the

hardest to keep track of – especially the hyperlinks, whose color

keeps mutating!) The rest of the job is what an editor

traditionally does: catching typos (there aren’t many because our

contributors are good). My own contributions to the actual

newsletter content are minimal, which is as it should be.

None of this is particularly mentally challenging, but all of it

takes time. I spend several days, spread over about two weeks

getting everything together. I feel a real sense of accomplishment

when the PDF finally hits the club’s website. And I’m happy to

be contributing to making BARS a great club.

Club News: VE Exams to Resume By Bruce Anderson, W1LUS

We are about to begin conducting VE exams again. The exams

will be conducted differently than in the past. No more “walk in”

sessions because we must limit the number of people in order to

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 3

maintain social distancing. For now the exams will take place in a

parking lot where the examinees remain in their vehicles during

the exam. Pre-registration will be required. To minimize paper

handling by the VEs the 605 form and CSCE form must be filled

out and emailed to the VE team along with a copy of existing

FCC license and ID before the exam session. We are also

considering Saturday morning exams a couple times a month if

the demand is there for tests.

For more information contact Bruce, W1LUS, at

W1LUS@hotmail.com

Feature Article: One Ham’s Pilgrimage to

Cape Cod – Part 2: Chatham Marconi

Maritime Center By Guy DeMartinis, AC1BJ

In this sequence of short articles I have been presenting

information regarding sites of interest on Cape Cod that every

local amateur radio operator should consider visiting. In a

previous article (Part 1 – BARS Newsletter November 2019) I

presented a short overview of Marconi Beach located in South

Wellfleet Cape Cod, the location of the first trans-Atlantic

communication between the U.S. and Europe. In this article (Part

2) I will present an overview of the Chatham Marconi Maritime

Center which is the site of an excellent museum, the Marconi-

RCA Wireless Museum. The museum celebrates both the

Marconi legacy and provides many details of the RCA/naval

radio station that was once located there [1].

Guglielmo Marconi is considered the inventor of radio [2] and is

a foundational figure partly responsible for the rapid development

of communications technology during the 20th

century. Marconi

was a co-recipient of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics for his

efforts in “Wireless Telegraphy” and has been referred to as “the

Father of Radio” [3] and more recently by Raboy as “The Man

Who Networked the World” [4]. Although one could argue that

the credit for the concept of wireless communication/radio should

fall to others, such as Nikola Tesla [5] or perhaps Jagadish

Chandra Bose [6], it was clearly the combination of Marconi’s

technical and business acumen that propelled the

commercialization of realizable and reliable radio technology [3,

4]. Marconi’s impact upon modern society is universal with

traces of his original pioneering work still present close by on

Cape Cod.

Marconi on Cape Cod – Wellfleet and Chatham

Marconi achieved the first wireless trans-Atlantic communication

on December 12, 1901 between Poldhu, Cornwall England and

St. John’s, Newfoundland. The communication consisted of the

Morse code letter “S” transmitted nearly continuously from

Poldhu and received by Marconi in Newfoundland. Marconi had

originally planned to use a station built at South Wellfleet, Cape

Cod as the North American site for the first trans-Atlantic

wireless communication with Europe [3]. Unfortunately the

station antenna towers at Poldhu were destroyed by a large storm

and replaced with an antenna consisting of shorter support towers

forcing Marconi to use his closer Newfoundland station for his

record-breaking communication effort. Fortunately for the U.S.

Marconi did return to his station on Cape Cod to demonstrate the

first trans-Atlantic wireless communication between the United

States and England on January 18, 1903 using his station located

at Wellfleet. As with the Poldhu station, the Wellfleet antenna

was also destroyed by a storm and rebuilt prior to the 1903 trans-

Atlantic communication success.

The Wellfleet station maintained operation until 1917 being

replaced by a station employing the latest technologies of that

time located nearby in Chatham, Massachusetts, founded in 1914.

The primary purpose of both stations was communication to/from

ships at sea. The Chatham station consisted of a receiver system

with the transmitter located off-site in South Chatham to

attenuate the reception of the transmitter signal at the receiver.

The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center is now located on the site

of the Marconi/RCA Chatham radio station and consists of two

buildings original to the station, one remaining antenna tower and

a large antenna field. The principal museum building is aptly

named the “Wireless History Gallery” and presents the history

behind Marconi’s contributions as well as the years the station

was owned and operated by RCA Corporation as well as the US

Navy. The second building is the “Wireless Today Gallery”

which presents exhibits of relevance regarding modern

applications of wireless technology and related electronics. The

specific exhibits found within each of the museum buildings are

listed on the museum website with a few of particular interest

presented in this brief article [1].

In the “Wireless History Gallery” two professionally crafted

scale-model dioramas provide exquisite detail regarding the

configuration of both the receiving and transmitting station sites.

The diorama representing Chatham Station as it was configured

in 1914 is presented in Figure 1, and the diorama of the South

Chatham transmitting station as it was configured in 1914 is

provided in Figure 2. The South Chatham transmitting station

was not preserved and no longer exists. In Figure 1 the tower

located in the lower right as well as the two buildings located

closest to the tower remain and comprise the Chatham Marconi

Maritime Center. The antenna trail (an antenna farm) located

behind the main museum building, which is furthest to the right

in Figure 1, also remains but is populated now by a series of

antennas in use by the local amateur radio station WA1WCC.

The remainder of this article will focus primarily on the Chatham

Receiving Station as the Marconi Maritime Center is presently

located on this site.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 4

Figure 1. Diorama of Chatham Receiving Station Configured

as in 1914

Figure 2. Diorama of South Chatham Transmitting Station

Configured as in 1914

Marconi Chatham Receiving Station and Museum

The first antenna system built at the Chatham station consisted of

six large towers each 350 feet tall separated to encompass a mile

long wire antenna pointing towards Stavanger, Norway. It is not

known if a wire antenna was ever actually strung the entire length

of the six towers. The antenna was designed and constructed by

the J.G. White Engineering Company in 1914. A clever part of

the antenna design, especially considering the year was 1914, was

the inclusion of a separate antenna aimed towards the

transmitting station located off-site. The signal from this

“balancing-out aerial” was added out-of-phase with the primary

receiver signal to reduce interference from the Marconi

transmitter located relatively close by [7]. An excellent

description of the antenna designs employed at Chatham station

over the years is provided in reference [7]. Eventually the huge

towers were removed and replaced with modern more efficient

antennae. For a period of time a single 350 foot tall tower did

remain and operated as a vertical antenna but was finally torn

down in 1954. During the early years of the station (at least prior

to WWI) communications were typically performed at very low

frequencies in the neighborhood of 500 kHz or below using

spark-gap generator technology and upgraded to continuous wave

(CW) sometime around 1920 [8].

It is important to note that Marconi sold his assets to RCA

Corporation in 1919 and much of the history of the Chatham

station from 1919 up through the late 1990’s (the station ceased

operation in 1998) is an integral part of the history of RCA

Corporation. It is also of interest to note that the US Navy seized

Chatham Station during both WWI and WWII to support allied

efforts during both wars. The contribution of Chatham Station

during both world wars is notable and includes intercepting

German codes, often produced using Enigma machines, and

forwarding the coded messages to Washington DC for

deciphering [1]. The primary building of the Marconi Maritime

Center, the “Wireless History Gallery”, is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Wireless History Gallery - Chatham Marconi

Maritime Center (as of 2019)

From a Ham’s perspective the various forms of antennas

employed are of interest and included many varieties of wire

antennas with the onsite personnel performing hands-on

experiments to repair, upgrade and otherwise optimize the station.

Some of the engineering notebooks are preserved at the museum

and date back to at least as early as 1920 (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Chatham Station Engineering Log Notebook with

Entries Dated May 1920

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Some interesting receiving antennas used at Chatham include [7]:

a 30’ loop antenna (1919), a Beverage antenna (1921-1922),

Marconi T-antenna, as well as a suite of dipoles, log-periodic,

and rhombic antennas. Figure 5 provides the orientations of the

rhombic antennas and the directions the beams were pointed

around the globe [7]. One frequency is indicated for one of the

smaller rhombics (21 MHz) so one may conjecture that the

smaller (larger) rhombics operated at proportionally higher

(lower) frequency bands. Rhombic antennas are well known to

provide high-gain and wide bandwidth operation but are

electrically very large [9] and so a vast amount of real estate is

required to install so many rhombics as seen previously on the

Chatham site. One of the towers used to support the feed-end of a

large rhombic antenna still stands onsite adjacent to the main road

and now supports a nest of Osprey birds (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Chatham Station Rhombic Antennas – Orientation

and Target Directions for Main Lobes [7]

Figure 6. The Remaining Antenna Tower at Chatham Station

with Osprey Nest at the Top

The walk up to the antenna trail located behind the primary

museum building is shown in Figure 7 with the placard

describing the area shown in Figure 8. At the present time a

variety of antennas are present on the antenna trail including

dipole antennas covering the amateur bands of 80, 40, 30, 20, 17

and 15 meters.

Figure 7. Entrance Path to the Chatham Marconi Maritime

Center Antenna Trail

Figure 8. Posted Description of Chatham Marconi Maritime

Center Antenna Trail Exhibit

Other exhibits housed within the Wireless History Gallery

include: one (non-operational) RCA SSB-T3 Type-H, 2-30 MHz,

20 kW Transmitter of the type employed at the South Chatham

transmitter location between 1978-1997 (Figure 9); a Kolster loop

antenna (Figure 10); ship-board and shore-located transceiver

systems dating from the early days of radio through and beyond

WWII (Figures 11, 12); as well as exhibits on Morse Code, the

Marconi Wellfleet station, a Marconi timeline of achievements,

an overview of early radio tube technology, and many more.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 6

Figure 9. RCA SSB-T3 Type-H 2-30 MHz 20 kW Transmitter of

the Type Used Circa 1978-1998

Figure 10. Kolster Loop Antenna with Tube Exhibit (Left) and

Engineering Log (Lower Middle)

Figure 11. An Example of a Shipboard Radio Station

Figure 12. Shore-Based Kleinschmidt Wireless Telegraph

System (Operated Until the 1970s)

The second building of the Marconi Maritime Museum, the

“Wireless Today Gallery”, includes exhibits emphasizing current

and future trends in wireless electronics [8] and is located near

the primary museum building on the opposite side of the parking

lot. This building includes a number of exhibits that are updated

regularly. As of July 2020 new exhibits emphasize wireless

electronics as applied to naval rescue and tracking of ships. For

example, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) antenna and

decoding system was recently installed onsite and is operational

(Figure 13). The AIS system is analogous to aircraft ADS-B and

consists of automated transmitting of ship location and other

identifying information from the craft on 161.975 MHz (Ship-to-

Ship) or 162.025 MHz (Ship-to-Shore) [10]. The system allows

tracking of all ships in very near real time.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 7

Figure 13. Automatic Identification System (AIS) Exhibit in the

Wireless Today Gallery

WA1WCC Amateur Radio Station

An amateur radio station is located on-site at the Marconi

Maritime Center but I was not able to gain access to it during my

visit. The door to the station is shown in Figure 14 and the cables

exiting the station to the antenna trail shown in Figure 15. The

station primarily consists of donated equipment and operates

largely on CW using a 160 meter Marconi T-antenna, but I have

noted logs on the WA1WCC website that indicate operation

using FT8 [1]. The station also uses antennae available in the

neighboring antenna field including dipoles for 80, 40, 30, 20, 17

and 15 meters. The station also maintains a 2 meter repeater

(145.5 MHz, PL Tone of 146.2 Hz, and -600 kHz offset)

including a Yaesu WiRES-X system. The WiRES-X system

supports the “Cape Cod” room with DTMF ID 62328. Access to

the WiRES-X rooms is via C4FM digital mode only.

Figure 14. Door to the WA1WCC Amateur Radio Station On-

Site at Chatham Marconi Center

Figure 15. WA1WCC Antenna Cables to Antenna Trail at

Chatham Marconi Center

Conclusion

The modern world of wireless communications has roots firmly

planted in the sands of South Wellfleet (Marconi Beach) and

Chatham Cape Cod. For Massachusetts amateur radio operators a

short visit to two of the sites where practical wireless

communications technology and techniques were first

demonstrated, and actively developed, is well worth the trip. If

you would like additional information on the Chatham Marconi

Maritime Center please examine the references provided at the

end of this article, especially references [1] and [11], or feel free

to contact me at my ARRL email address or Hamshack Hotline

phone number.

References:

[1] https://www.chathammarconi.org/planyourvisit

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi

[3] https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/guglielmo-marconi

[4] Marc Raboy, “Marconi – The Man Who Networked the

World”, Oxford University Press, 2016

[5] W. Bernard Carlson, “Tesla – Inventor of the Electric Age”,

Princeton University Press, 2013

[6] Varun Aggarwal, “Jagadish Chandra Bose: The Real Inventor

of Marconi’s Wireless Receiver”,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228794287_Jagadish_C

handra_Bose_The_Real_Inventor_of_Marconi’s_Wireless_Detec

tor, Downloaded July 13, 2020

[7] J. Richard Kaycir, “Antennas at Chatham”, Copyright 2014

Chatham Marconi Maritime Center

[8] Discussions with Chatham Marconi Maritime Center Museum

Guides, Chatham, MA, July 17, 2020

[9] The ARRL Antenna Handbook for Radio Communications –

23rd

Edition, Section 13.3 The Resonant Rhombic Antenna,

pp.13-9 – 13-15

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[10] Shilavadra Bhattacharjee, “Automatic Identification System

(AIS): Integrating and Identifying Marine Communication

Channels”, Marine Insight, March 27, 2019

[11] E.P. Lohr, “A Technical History of Marconi’s South

Wellfleet Wireless Station, 1901-1922”, Society of Wireless

Pioneers, California Historical Radio Society.

73,

Guy DeMartinis, AC1BJ

Email: ac1bj@arrl.net

Hamshack Hotline Phone: 4995

Feature Article: 2020 13 Colonies Event – Portable from the Great State of Maine

By Kayla Creamer, W2IRY

The 2020 13 Colonies Event came and went rather quickly, it

seems. If you’ve been a club member or an avid reader of the

BARS newsletter for at least a year, you may recall that I wrote

an article last year about my 13 Colonies QRP experience while

camping in Maine. This year was a little different...And a bit

more successful, after I got past some technical issues.

After careful consideration, I opted to go visit my grandmother in

Maine for a week and a half around 4th of July knowing that

neither of us goes anywhere and that we were both likely healthy

and virus free. Since my trip fell right in the middle of this year’s

13 Colonies event, I decided to pack my gear and bring it with

me. In my gear bag, or in this case my bright pink Tupperware

container, I packed my dad’s Yaesu FTdx1200 and all of the

necessary components. You may recall that last year, I used his

TenTec Argonaut II. The TenTec only operates at 5w, which is

certainly a challenge in any location. I can only operate with a

maximum of 30w with the Alpha Loop (20w if I’m using the

40/80 booster cable). I consulted with Andy, KA1GTT, who

suggested that I might want to bring the Yaesu, as I’m more

familiar with it than I am with some of my dad’s other radios that

I may have chosen.

Bringing the Yaesu had some downsides. It’s much larger and

heavier than some of the other radios my dad owned. I’m also

very reluctant to pull gear out of my the main setup to haul out of

the house for fear of damaging any of it. One of the biggest issues

was that I didn’t have a portable power supply with the

appropriate connectors on it. Upon Andy’s suggestion, and after a

little bit of research, I made my way up to HRO (after phoning in

my order) and picked up a PowerWerx SS-30DV power supply,

which weighs a meager 3 lbs and takes up very little space. My

original option was going to be lugging my dad’s Astron that

powers almost everything in his shack. It weighs more than the

radio (about 27 lbs) and was definitely going to take up a lot of

space in the truck. If your rig is configured for powerpole

connectors and you’re looking for a nice, portable power supply,

I highly recommend the PowerWerx supply. Between gift

certificates and a sale, the final price on it was $9.95. Seemed like

a worthwhile investment to me.

My initial setup spot was outdoors on the back patio. Not

realizing that the T connector was broken, I decided to move up

to the side deck shortly after to try and get a little more height.

I got up to Maine and got everything all setup for day one of the

event. I almost immediately ran into an issue getting the antenna

to tune. It took me some time to figure out why. It turns out that

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 9

the original SO-239 T connector that the antenna shipped with

had several “moving” parts.

This is what the T connector looked like pulled apart. There

were a lot of places where things could, and did, go wrong. Note

the size of that tiny pin that was holding one side of the

connector together. The other one was long gone.

The two connectors on the top were held in with tiny pins. One of

them appeared to have fallen out somewhere along the line. The

second one fell out shortly after I noticed the first one was

missing. After that, there wasn’t a solid connection. I tried a

variety of different methods to try and get the connector to hold

together so it would be usable, but ended up having to just order a

new one piece T connector from eBay in hopes that it would

arrive before the event was over. I was able to get some of my

patch up methods, including using electrical tape (see photo), to

work for brief periods of time, but it eventually got to a point

where even that wasn’t holding everything together well enough.

It’s also not ideal considering you have to manually turn the

antenna and you have to touch the tuning knob every time you

change frequencies/bands. I did make a couple of successful

contacts while the antenna was in a semi-functioning state. As it

turns out, Alpha apparently had a lot of complaints about issues

with the pin style connectors and was shipping the antennas with

a spare T connector. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the bag with

me, so even if that particular antenna shipped with a spare, it was

back in MA, which wasn’t much help at the time. I had to call it

quits for the weekend until the new connector arrived.

This was my temporary indoor setup. I opted to bring everything

indoors so I could leave it setup and not have to break it down

in the event of bad weather, which we got plenty of. I eventually

got things set up a little more “permanently,” but didn’t bother

at the start because I didn’t know if I was even going to be able

to get the replacement connector in time. As a side note, I’m

well aware that the feed line is much heavier than it needed to

be. I grabbed what I had in the house, but will plan on

something lighter for future travel.

When the replacement connector arrived in the mail on Monday,

I immediately got everything connected and had much more

success with getting the antenna to tune. I had lost quite a bit of

time having to wait for a new connector, so I knew my odds of a

clean sweep were slim. I managed to make a couple of contacts

on Monday. I did my best to try and make as many contacts as I

could on Tuesday, which was the final day of the event. I decided

to hook up the 40/80 booster cable, which gave me the option to

work 80m, but meant I lost 10w of power. Much to my delight, I

managed to snag three more 13 Colonies stations during the last

couple of hours of the event on 80m - K2I, K2D and K2M, all

stations that I tried to work on 20m and 40m, but wasn’t able to. I

was also able to hear GB13COL quite loud on 40m, but they

weren’t hearing me, even when they called for YL’s, QRP, and

portable stations.

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All in all, I managed to get nine of the 13 Colonies this year,

which was an improvement over the three I made last year with

5w on the TenTec. I was also able to make contact with a station

in Italy and a POTA station in PA. I was trying to make contact

with a QRP station in NY on 80m and ended up having a short

QSO with a station in MA that happened to hear the both of us as

he was scanning through the bands.

I didn’t think to take another photo, but I did actually pull over

a chair instead of sitting on that footstool the entire time. This

was also before I attached the 40/80m booster cable.

Operating in my grandmother’s sunroom definitely had some

upsides. I could still get the fresh air and breeze from outside. I

didn’t have to worry about possible rain during the week.

I also got a fantastic view of the sunset on nice evenings.

Now that I’ve got a fully functioning portable setup (hopefully), I

look forward to bringing the rig to Maine with me more often.

I’m sure it’ll also get some use while camping. Next up is getting

a big enough Pelican case to hold both the Yaesu and the power

supply along with a few of the accessories.

Feature Article: Contesting, Follow-Up By Jon Turner, AC1EV

New England QSO Party, Revisited

At the end of April this year I wrote an article about my

experience with the New England QSO Party. The event took

place in May 2019. At the time, my station at my NH QTH was

IC-7300, 500 Watts and EFHW antenna at 50 feet. When I

received the certificate from the NEQP it was for second place in

Carroll County, NH and I got a big kick out of it. Digging deeper

into the event and learning about my competition I found out that

there was a total of 4 entries from Carroll County and only two of

us were in the HP category. This means that I also came in last

place for High Power! Still, I had fun and a certificate, so no

complaints. It also prompted me to enter the 2020 NEQP as Low

Power, which would give me a chance to come in first in that

category for Carroll County.

Checking on Results from Other Contests

Not all contests will send you your results. I expect the big guns

who finish at the top may hear something, but not every contest

will let each minor award winner know about it. A fellow ham

sent me this link to use to check on results from ARRL events.

https://contests.arrl.org/certificates.php

Enter your call and you will get a list of PDFs suitable for

printing or framing. Any that you earned a certificate for as well

as any multi-operator stations you have participated with. Be sure

to also enter any of your ex-calls. I found 2 certificates that I did

not know about!

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 11

When I entered these ARRL contests my goal was to make QSOs

and then import them into my QRZ log. I did not really

participate at a serious level and probably spent less than 10

hours on each one. I wanted my contacts to count for the other

participants, so I logged with N1MM+ and submitted the logs as

if I was in it to win it. When I entered the 2019 CQ World-Wide

DX Contest SSB, I decided to give it more effort and operated for

15.2 hours out of 40 hours available.

Rookie Contesting

Many contests have an option for operators who have their

licenses for under 3 years to enter with a Rookie Overlay. I

highly recommend that any hams who qualify for this do it. In

addition to competing against all the entrants in the contest, your

score will also be ranked against just Rookies. Competing

against highly experienced operators with advanced contest

stations is tough and there are many that are in that class.

Entering as a Rookie may give you a chance to compete against

other operators who match your skills and equipment. You can

set the option in the contest setup in N1MM.

I Raised My Antenna for Better Performance

The 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest SSB was held in October.

I obtained spousal approval to put in more time on this one than

any other contests I worked. I was operating from my NH QTH

with my IC-7300 and 500 Watts of power. My 8010 EFHW

antenna was installed at 50 feet. My previous experience with the

antenna was OK and I made many QSOs with it. When I tried in

the contest environment, it was not meeting my expectations. I

could not break into pile ups reliably. On 80 meters, I was only

able to make QSOs out to around 1500 miles. I decided to take

the end of the antenna down from the tree at 50 feet and use my

new Bigshot Slingshot Throwline Launcher to raise the end as

much as possible. I wrote about this in an article I posted in the

NARS website. It took me around an hour to raise the antenna

to 70 feet and it made a BIG difference! All bands showed

noticeable improvement with 80 meters being the most dramatic.

My first QSO on 80 was to Ukraine, over 4000 miles away.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 12

NH QTH Topography

My QTH in Mirror Lake, NH is located close to the top of a long

ridge. The land falls off sharply from 80 to 100 feet within a half

mile or less to the NE to SW. It falls off less sharply for most of

the rest of the compass points. The arrow points to my antenna

and how it is oriented below.

I am not sure precisely how much this added elevation adds to the

apparent height of my antenna, but I’m pretty sure it makes it

seem like it is even higher than the 70 feet it is up in the tree.

Additionally, the ground under the antenna is moist and mineral

rich and should be better than average ground.

My Results!

Here is my raw score from N1MM for the contest. I only had

301 QSOs, but many multipliers and that really boosted the score.

A few months after the contest I received an email from them

asking me to provide information about when I was first licensed,

and I replied to them with my info and a screen shot of my ULS

listing. After that I just forgot about it. Once I learned about

checking on results with the ARRL link, I decided to check and

see how I did in the 2019 CQ World-Wide DX Contest SSB

contest.

I saw there was a Cert available, so something was good. I

downloaded the certificate and found out I did way better than

come in second out of two entrants in my small county. Here is

how I did:

I was thrilled to see this and am very motivated to give maximum

effort for the upcoming 2020 contest. Now I plan to upgrade to a

HEX Beam or Spider Beam for my NH QTH. If the location

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 13

worked so well with an EFHW antenna I can only imagine how

well it will work with a Yagi. If I add more time in chair and

operate for closer to the maximum allowed time, I should be able

to improve on this result dramatically.

Try Rookie Contesting

I would have been quite happy with my results scored without the

Rookie Overlay but having a competitive result as a Rookie is

very motivating and satisfying. I only have until the end of the

year to qualify as a Rookie again and I intend on entering a few

more contests while I can. I recommend that anyone who can,

should try this out.

Technical Article: Programming – Another Tool in Your Ham Toolbox

By Marla Wallace, WA1GSF

Ham radio is a technical hobby, and that’s no less true today than

it was a century ago. Though ham gear is readily available pre-

assembled, many hams prefer to construct their gear from kits

and there are several companies offering gear that way. Some

hams go a step further and design and construct all or part of their

stations from scratch. Increasingly, ready-built rigs, kits and

published home-brew projects are based on microprocessors.

Using a microprocessor in place of traditional circuitry often

allows for inclusion of features and even communication methods

which were undreamed of fifty years ago. (Yes, the

microprocessor is about 50 years old now!) So if you plan to do

DIY, being able to program these beasties is as important as

knowing how to solder.

I’m not going to try to teach programming in this article – there

are many, many, books (some good) on the subject and

universities have whole departments dedicated to instructing in

the arcania of computer science. I simply want to make you

aware that it’s possible to acquire the skill to a sufficient degree

that making custom ham-related applications or DIY

microprocessor-driven devices of your own devising becomes

possible.

Nearly all programming today is done in what’s called a high-

level programming language. The two most common languages

are C and Python. Of these, C tends to be used to define the

functionality of microprocessor-based hardware projects and

Python tends to be used for making applications on laptops and

tablets. I happen to know both of these programming languages

(and not a few others) and in my opinion Python is easier to learn

if you have never programmed before. So I will use the Python

language in this article.

The first rule of programming is to remember that a computer (or

computing device) will always do exactly what you tell it to –

nothing more and nothing less. This includes stopping. If you

don’t specify an end to the program, like the story of the

Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the program will continue to run forever,

mindlessly doing the same thing over and over.

Here’s an example of such a stupid program (don’t try this at

home, it may lock up your computer):

while True: print “Hello”

What that program said to do was to print the word ‘Hello’ for as

long as the constant ‘True’ was true – which it always is!

Here’s a program that you can try that won’t run forever:

i = 0 while (i < 10): print i i = i + 1

That program will print the decimal digits 0 through 9, each on a

line by itself and then stop. It’s not terribly useful, but it at least

demonstrates how to make a simple Python program.

Just for laughs, here’s the same code, expressed in C (though it

will need a bunch of boiler-plate before it becomes a running

program):

i = 0; while (i < 10) { printf(“%d\n”, i); i = i + 1; }

While it’s a fairly steep learning curve to get from printing the

decimal digits to doing something useful, with a bit of

experience, you can get to an application like the one below

which will translate resistor color codes into ohms:

# decode resistor color code for # four-band resistors def lookup(name, band): global c1, c2, c3, c4 c = colorband.lower() for i in range(10): if (band == 1): if (c == c1[i][0]): return i elif (band == 2): if (c == c2[i][0]):

return i elif (band == 3):

if (c == c3[i][0]): return i elif (band == 4): if (c == c4[i][0]): return i else: return -1 return -1 c1 = [ ( 'nil', -1 ), ( 'brown', 1 ), ( 'red', 2 ), ( 'orange', 3 ), ( 'yellow', 4 ), ( 'green', 5 ), ( 'blue', 6 ), ( 'violet', 7 ), ( 'gray', 8 ), ( 'white', 9 )] c2 = [ ( 'black', 0 ), ( 'brown', 1 ), ( 'red', 2 ), ( 'orange', 3 ), ( 'yellow', 4 ), ( 'green', 5 ), ( 'blue', 6 ), ( 'violet', 7 ), ( 'gray', 8 ), ( 'white', 9 ) ] c3 = [ ( 'silver', .01 ), ( 'gold', .1 ), ( 'black', 1. ), ( 'brown', 10. ), ( 'red', 100. ), ( 'orange', 1000. ), ( 'yellow', 10000. ), (

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 14

'green', 100000. ), ( 'blue', 1000000. ), ( 'violet', 10000000. ), ( 'gray', 100000000. ), ( 'white', 1000000000. ) ] c4 = [ ( 'brown', 1 ), ( 'red', 2 ), ( 'gold', 5 ), ( 'silver', 10 ), ( 'none', 20 ), ('nil', -1), ('nil', -1), ('nil', -1), ('nil', -1), ('nil', -1)] print "Please enter the 4-band resistor color code." print " " while True: colorband = input("first band") b1 = lookup(colorband, 1) if b1 < 0: print colorband+ " is not a valid color for the first band." else: break while True: colorband = input("second band") b2 = lookup(colorband, 2) if b2 < 0: print colorband+ " is not a valid color for the second band." else: break while True: colorband = input("third band") b3 = lookup(colorband, 3) if b3 < 0: print colorband+ " is not a valid color for the third band." else: break while True: colorband = input("fourth band") b4 = lookup(colorband, 4) if b4 < 0: print colorband+ " is not a valid color for the fourth band." else: break code = [ b1, b2, b3, b4 ] v = c1[code[0]][1] v = v * 10 + c2[code[1]][1] v = v * c3[code[2]][1] print(c1[code[0]][0] + ", " + c2[code[1]][0] + ", " + c3[code[2]][0] + ", " + c4[code[3]][0] + " is " + str(int(v)) + " ohms, " + str(c4[code[3]][1]) + "%" )

And that’s all I want to say on the subject this month. But I could

be persuaded to write more in the future…

Strays Found on the Web Here are a few interesting things I came across while surfing the

interwebs since our last issue:

This month, I thought I’d see how many ways there are to

generate microwaves. There were a ridiculous number! Have a

look at just a few:

The first one is one of my favorite “magic” semiconductor

devices because if quantum uncertainty theory was not true, this

device wouldn’t work. It’s called a Tunnel Diode and Wikipedia

has this to say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_diode about

it.

Another semiconductor device, but which operates using a

different principle is the Gunn Effect Diode

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunn_diode.

Then we have a device that most everybody has one of, if they

own a microwave oven, the Cavity Magnetron vacuum tube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavity_magnetron.

Another unusual vacuum tube is the Traveling Wave Tube

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling-wave_tube.

There’s also the Klystron vacuum tube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klystron.

On a different subject, have you ever wondered how the new-

fangled devices charge wirelessly? Have a look at this article on

the principles of wireless charging. Some of the circuitry looks

like it could have come from your ham rig:

https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-

management/article/21806433/cables-be-gone-wireless-charging-

charges-on

And that’s about enough for now! I hope you find these articles

interesting.

--de Marla Wallace, WA1GSF

_________________

The BARS regular Saturday morning breakfast has been

suspended due to the COVD19 emergency, so we are now trying

a Saturday morning ZOOM gathering. Details are announced in

the BARS mailing list.

de Bruce Anderson, W1LUS

Secretary’s Reports

from Scott Ginsburg, K1OA, Secretary

The BARS General Meeting, July 1. 2020 President Andy Wallace, KA1GTT called the Zoom virtual

meeting to order at 7:05 PM.

David Kruh, WB2HTO presented the second half of his talk

entitled “Stories from the Shop”. This was followed by a

roundtable of everyone present conducted by KA1GTT.

There were 24 attendees.

KA1GTT closed the meeting at 9:00 PM.

There was no BARS Board of Directors Meeting

for July.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 15

BARS Membership

Bruce, W1LUS, our BARS Treasurer reports that as of July, 2020

we had 98 total members. The following 53 members were paid

up as of May.

First Name Last Name CALL ARRL

Bruce Anderson W1LUS Y

Jwahar Bammi K1JBD Y

Erin Bournival K1ENB Y

Douglas Bruce KC1MJK Y

Mark Callahan KC1KBC

Ken Caruso WO1N Y

Erving Chamberlin N1ECC Y

Henry Christle WA1VAB Y

Kayla Creamer W2IRY Y

Michael Creech KD1VY Y

Josph Curran W1MGB Y

Guy DeMartinis AC1BJ Y

Jim Evans N1HTS Y

Kevin Fallon KB1KTR Y

John Fisher KC1FTJ Y

Al Franca KC1LLW Y

Gary Frascarelli W1GFF Y

Robert Galante WA1PWZ Y

Scott Ginsburg K1OA Y

Dale Goad KB1BEE Y

Paul Graveline K1YUB Y

Tom Gray K1THG

Niece Haynes KA1ULN Y

Sidney Johnston AB1NZ Y

Chris Lobdell KC1IUK Y

Doug MacAloney KC1IOK Y

Brenton MacAloney KC1KOV N

Leandra MacLennan AF1R Y

Benjamin Martin W1BPM Y

Donald Melanson W1DM Y

Matthew Murphy KC1KHN

Peter Norden N1ALO Y

Kenneth Olson W7LSG Y

James Osborn KB1SEQ Y

Paul Pellegrini K1VK Y

Charlie Pestia W1CEP

Bruce Pigott KC1US

Art Pizer Pizer NF1A Y

Don Price KB5VP Y

Mike Raisbeck K1TWF Y

Bob Ravenstein W1FDR Y

Kyle Rogers KC1IHN Y

Steven Schultz AC1EX Y

Paul Simpson N1CLN Y

Peter Skrypczac W1SEF

Robert Sparkes KC1KVY Y

Mark Sullivan KC1FYU Y

Daniel Trainor WA1QZX Y

Jonathan Turner AC1EV Y

Andy Wallace KA1GTT Y

Marla Wallace WA1GSF Y

Tom Walsh K1TW Y

Christopher Wood KC1GHR Y

2020 BARS Member Dues The BARS Board has changed the policy on member dues. A

$15 annual BARS membership now runs from January 1 and

expires on December 31st. Any renewal or new membership

made after September 1 will be valid until December 31 of the

next year. Memberships allow us to

Pay our bills;

maintain our great web page;

fund field day;

and bring the membership a great variety of informative

meetings and speakers.

Treasurers Report for August, 2020 from Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, Treasurer

Reminder 2020 Dues were due starting January first. Dues can be

paid several ways:

Via bank to bank transfer with Zelle, Venmo, PayPal, etc. by sending $15 to bars.dues@outlook.com

With credit card on the W1HH.org website by using the Join/Renewal membership form.

By cash or check by mailing $15 to Billerica ARS, PO BOX 832, Nutting Lake, MA 01856

The annual club insurance has come due. It is $222.20 which is

about $2 more than last year. This expense has to be approved at

the August or September zoom meeting.

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 16

Through mid July we had three renewals K1RJV, W1CEP and

KC1LRW plus two new members Mark, KC1KQC and

Alexander, KM4JOS for $75 income.

Expenses were PayPal $3.70, Zoom $15.93. We now have

$423.71 in the Bank and $552.47 in our PayPal account for a total

of $935.08

Our current combined membership is 98.

BARS Needs You!!! We are looking for a few good hams to act as net control on the

regularly scheduled Wednesday night nets! All it takes is one

night a month; if you are interested contact Chris, KC1IUK. Also, the club needs volunteers for light tasks of ~ 1 hour a

month. Are you able to pitch in? Contact Andy, KA1GTT

Wednesday Night Net Note: because we will be holding our virtual General Meeting,

there will not be a net on August 5th

.

Join us on the Billerica Repeater for the weekly BARS net each

Wednesday at 8:00 PM (except on the first Wednesday of the

Month which is club meeting night).

Repeater info:

147.12 MHz

+600 kHz (normal) offset

Encode CTCSS 103.5 Hz

Club Meetings NOTE: Physical Club meetings are replaced by video Zoom

meetings until the COVID19 Emergency has passed.

First Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM at Chelmsford Bible

Church, 128 Gorham St., Chelmsford MA

Park in back and enter by rear door

Chelmsford Bible Church Hall, 128 Gorham St, Rear Door,

Chelmsford MA 01824-3220 (map)

VE Sessions NOTE: VE Sessions will resume soon but in completely

different format, due to the COVID19 Emergency.

We are about to begin conducting VE exams again. The exams

will be conducted differently than in the past. For now the new

procedure will be

The exams will take place in a parking lot where the examinees remain in their vehicles during the exam.

Pre-registration will be required. No more “walk in” sessions because we must limit the number of people in order to maintain social distancing.

To minimize paper handling by the VEs, the 605 form and CSCE form must be filled out and emailed to the VE team along with a copy of existing FCC license, if any, and an ID before the exam session.

We are also considering Saturday morning exams a couple times

a month if the demand is there for tests.

For more information about the new exam process, contact

Bruce, W1LUS, at W1LUS@hotmail.com

Eventually, we hope to resume holding VE sessions as before,

every month on the 2nd Thursday at 7:00 PM at Chelmsford

Bible Church, 128 Gorham St., Chelmsford MA. Park in back

and enter by rear door. Chelmsford Bible Church Hall, 128

Gorham St, Rear Door, Chelmsford MA 01824-3220 (map)

Club Breakfast every Saturday NOTE: The Club Breakfast is suspended until the COVID19

Emergency has passed. We are currently having a “virtual

breakfast” via Zoom (details announced in the BARS mailing

list) from 8:00 to about 10:00 on Saturdays.

On Saturday mornings around 8:15AM, we also meet weekly for

a casual, social breakfast at Stelio’s restaurant.

Stelio’s Family Restaurant, Billerica, MA (map) Future Meetings NOTE: Club meetings are suspended until the COVID19

Emergency has passed. The 8/5 meeting will be held via

Zoom.

Subscribe to the BARS Mailing List To subscribe to the BARS email list, send a blank email to bars-

subscribe@w1hh.org and watch for an automated reply. Note that

bars-subscribe is all one word.

Reply to that message from the list server and you are then

subscribed.

To post to the list, address your email to bars@w1hh.org

BARS BILLERICA AMATEUR RADIO SOCIETY August, 2020

August, 2020 Page 17

BARS August Suggestions - Get-on-the-air Events BARS is a “get-on-the-air” (GOTA) club. We encourage

members to participate in the varied events on HF and VHF.

Here are some popular suggestions for this month:

Date Event

Aug 1-2 10-10 Int. Summer Contest, SSB http://www.ten-

ten.org/index.php/activity/2013-07-22-20-26-48/qso-party-rules Aug 1-2 ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest http://www.arrl.org/222-mhz-and-up-distance-

contest Aug 1-2 North American QSO Party, CW** http://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf Aug 4 Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest** https://wwsac.com/rules.html Aug 5, 12 VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest http://www.ft8activity.eu/index.php/en/

** Top Recommendations for this month

Details on each contest above and more events can be found

every week on the WA7BNM contest calendar at :

https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php?mode=custom

&week=current

BARS Leadership Team President: Andy Wallace, KA1GTT

Vice President: Kayla Creamer, W2IRY

Treasurer: Bruce Anderson, W1LUS

Secretary: Scott Ginsburg, K1OA

Net Coordinator: Chris Lobdell, KC1IUK

Newsletter Editor: Marla Wallace, WA1GSF

BoD: Mike Raisbeck, K1TWF

BoD: Henry Christle, WA1VAB

Ex Officio: Tom Walsh, K1TW

Copyright © 2020 by the Billerica Amateur Radio Society (BARS).